Finkface

I regularly change flights that I have booked using a discount code. The discount code absolutely carries over to the new booking so it is not lost.

The only time I have ever had to full-on cancel (rather than just change) was about a month ago. I had to call in to cancel as I couldn’t do it online. It was under difficult circumstances and I had to change and cancel a few flights. The agent proactively asked Customer Care to issue me a new code to replace the one I had used on one of the flights. It was very nice of her and she offered it proactively. I did not ask and ai got the impression that it wasn’t the usual MO.

I believe if you just preserve the e-ticket for future use it protects the discount code but if you refund to your wallet, you lose the code. But I may be wrong as I so rarely outright cancel.

be_rettSEA

This has been my experience too. The discounted pricing continues to show when making changes to the flight. Cancel/redeposit to wallet will lose the discount code, and I've had agents deny requests for a discount code reissue in the past.

cblaisd

I have several flights this summer that were bought on the AS website that include an AA segment (booked as a codeshare).

I know that I will get 500 miles per "partner segment," but given my flying patterns those will be useless in terms of helping achieve status requalification.

What would happen if I simply took the AA boarding pass (which shows my AS #) to the gate agent and asked them to change it to my AA #?

a) Would that work? (I could use the 500 AA RDM to come closer to hitting a threshold)
b) Or would it populate to the AS segment too, causing me to receive no miles from either carrier for that segment.
c) Would it make a difference whether the AA segment was the initial one of a two segment itinerary vs. the second one?

I know there have been lots of questions about this, but I honestly am not sure I ever figured out a consensus answer.

teriyaki

Currently booked on AS1137 (Econ) SAN-SEA as a married segment coming in from TYO on JL (Biz).

Econ was all they had and it was the last seat on JL so I booked the trip.

I was under impression that I could change things as long as origin and end stay the same (booked on AAdvantage), but apparently not the case but thats another story. Its my first transpac award booking.

Long story short, my only chance of flying AS in J is on this flight specifically now. Question, does AS release F seats close to departure? If so, how close do they release so I'll know to be at my computer incessantly.

Flying for Fun

For awards, there needs to be Saver A space availability on AS to fly in First Class. If you look for awards on the SAN-SEA segment on AS, the points required for Saver awards would need to be 25K for First. If you find availability, there is no guarantee that the Saver A space would also be released to partners, so AA still might not be able to upgrade you. I have seen 7J on an AA flight but they have released exactly zero to AS.

Typically, mileage requirement for an AS First award will increase as you get closer to departure. "A" space may never open up while U space for Mileage Plan members may open. Waitlisted members (flying on eligible fares) would be upgraded in waitlist order as part of their Elite Benefits. If no Members are on the waitlist, Members can purchase an eligible fare or apply an upgrade instrument on a lower fare class for an immediate upgrade. Starting at 5 days before departure, depending on status tier, AS Elites receive complimentary upgrades. If all AS Elites are upgraded and there is still F space available, paid upgrades are available to anyone and offered at check-in or at the gate. No takers? The F seat goes out empty.

If you have access to a subscription service such as ExpertFlyer, you can set up an alert to be notified if "A" space opens up. If it does, you would need to call AAdvantage and see if that space is available to them and if they can accommodate the cabin change. Of course, you are bound by the T&Cs of AAdvantage. The likelyhood of last minute Saver A space is low. If it is quite some time before the flight, your chances improve.

James

teriyaki

Thanks James for the detailed reply. From what I gather, looks like my chances are slim as the flight is in less than 10 days. I guess it won't hurt to check back once in a while.

freed0m

Finkface

Technically, according to the rules, no. Is it possible? YMMV. For both QF and EK, the flights must be marketed and operated by the same carrier. This is from the partner earning page:
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...er-overview:EK
Qualify for mileage accrual

Flights must fall within the eligible flight number range below, and your flight must be marketed and operated by Emirate. Ticket has to be on Emirates ticket stock to qualify.

Eligible flight numbers
001–978

The rules are the same for QF:
Flights must fall within the eligible flight number range below, and your flight must be marketed and operated by Qantas.

Flying for Fun

The requirement for EK flights to be on EK ticket stock is unique to EK. A similar requirement is absent from the details for all other AS partners.

In practice, however, I have flown 4 native EK J flights on ticket stock other than EK and the flights posted automatically.

Codeshares add another layer of complexity as the flight numbers don't fall within the specified flight number range for accrual. In the poster's scenario the EK ticket stock hurdle wouldn't be an issue.

It would be interesting to know if AS would treat the EK codeshare with QF as it does other partner codeshares upon a manual request.

I wouldn't chance not getting EQM for the flight if I was still earning towards status. Now that I have requalified, I would give it a go to see how it played out.

James

Eurynom0s

I'm also getting the "This reservation is not eligible for online changes. Please call us at 1-800-252-7522 for assistance" message on a flight I booked via the UR portal using UR points. I'm looking to actually do a flight change, not just cancel the flight. If new flight + change fee is greater than what I originally paid, I'm assuming there's no problem? But if new flight + change fee is less than what I originally paid, am I SOL on the leftover money?

[edit] Wait, reading your link a second time, more closely...I can't do the change through Alaska, but should be able to do it through the UR portal???

[edit 2] Checked the UR portal (which I wouldn't have even thought to do before coming in here, I always think to just go to the airline for flight changes), I clicked through to changing the reservation and found this:


So okay, it closes the old loophole of how to turn UR into My Wallet funds if you're Gold/75K, but at least the funds aren't completely dead, which is what I was worried about there for a moment. Since I'm only regular MVP I can't provide a datapoint on whether the change fee is waived for Gold/75K when you're calling Expedia/UR to make a change to a UR portal booking.

williwaw

UR Travel Portal was telling me that I can not waive the change fees since they claim they can't check status. Other posters here have called BS on that, but I didn't force it and the credit is still sitting on UR for another couple months. Might try again for a trip in November.

cblaisd

Have I stumped the band twice in a week?

flyingeph12

If the AA-operated flight is marketed as an AS flight (i.e., has an AS flight number), it won't earn any AAdvantage miles.

Asking an agent to switch your AS Mileage Plan number with your AAdvantage number will probably affect all the segments in your itinerary. Probably the best way to credit to different programs with flights on the same itinerary is to NOT have a frequent flyer number at all in the booking and then retroactively claim credit for individual flights afterwards.

It doesn't matter if the AA-operated flight is first, last, or in the middle.

cblaisd

Trouble with not putting in my AS MVPG number is that I can't get decent seats and no shot at upgrade. Guess it will just be the cost of doing business.

Flying for Fun

While your status will allow for better seat selection on an AA operated flight, you are no longer eligible for upgrades on AA metal. I have successfully selected MCE exit row seats on my flight. My flight was a standalone.

The issue I had and anyone else will have is if the codeshare flight is a standalone or the first flight on a multi-segment itinerary, the bagage fee waiver for AS Elites doesn't extend to AA. I had to change my FF# from AS to AA for my AAdvantage CC benefits to kick in. After ckeck-in I had the gate agent change it back.

James